After the Kiss
by KatWoman8
Summary: Missing moment from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince after Harry kisses Ginny in the common room.


A/N: The first three paragraphs are from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, pages 533-534 of the American Edition. Thanks to hgfan1111 who chatted with me and helped to point me in the right direction when I was debating between a missing moment and a wedding scene. Thanks to mhersheybar and deenas for beta'ing for me.

This was written for the hg_silverlining Song Fic Challenge on LiveJournal.

My assigned song lyrics were:

_Are those your eyes, is that your smile _

_I've been lookin' at you forever _

_But I never saw you before _

_Are these your hands holdin' mine _

_Now I wonder how I could of been so blind_

from "For The First Time" - Kenny Loggins

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling. All recognizable characters, song lyrics, settings, and ideas remain the property of their respective owners. This story is intended for entertainment purposes only. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

_Harry looked around; there was Ginny runni__ng toward him; she had a hard, blazing look in her face as she threw her arms around him. And without thinking, without planning it, without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, Harry kissed her._

_After several long moments – or it might have been half an hour – or possibly several sunlit days – they broke apart. The room had gone very quiet. Then several people wolf-whistled and there was an outbreak of nervous giggling. Harry looked over the top of Ginny's head to see Dean Thomas holding a shattered glass in his hand, and Romilda Vane looking as though she might throw something. Hermione was beaming, but Harry's eyes sought Ron. At last he found him, still clutching the Cup and wearing an expression appropriate to having been clubbed over the head. For a fraction of a second they looked at each other, then Ron gave a tiny jerk of the head that harry understood to mean, Well – if you must._

_The creature in his chest roaring in triumph, he grinned down at Ginny and gestured wordlessly out of the portrait hole. A long walk in the grounds seemed indicated, during which - if they had time - they might discuss the match._

"You're leaving the party so soon? As the captain who missed the match and one who caught the Snitch, I would think the two of you would want to celebrate," the Fat Lady called as they pushed through the portrait.

Ginny called back over her shoulder, "We are going to celebrate. It's just going to be a private one."

"It's about bloody time," the Fat Lady murmured to her friend Violet, who nodded in agreement, and watched as the two headed down the corridor.

Harry and Ginny had just about made it to the Entrance Hall when Malfoy came up from the dungeons. "Well, well, Potter, so you traded in the Weasel for the Weaselette?" Glancing at their clasped hands he turned to Ginny. "He finally paid attention to that atrocious Valentine you sent him in your first year then," he sneered.

Harry felt Ginny tense and grabbed her other hand just as she was reaching for her wand. "Back off, Malfoy or I'll let her get her wand."

"You think I would be afraid of her?"

"Why don't you ask your father just what kind of damage she can cause? He saw her last year in the Department of Mysteries."

Malfoy took a step back. "This has been fun, but I really need to talk to someone important. And seeing as neither of you qualify, I'll be off." He turned and headed for the staircase.

"You didn't need to stop me, you know," Ginny said as they headed outside.

"I figured one of us in detention for the rest of the year was enough."

Ginny smiled. "Maybe we would have it together."

"I doubt it. Snape would make me keep my Saturdays and you'd have gotten Sundays."

They had reached the lake and sat together under a tree. Ginny settled herself next to him and rested her head against his chest. "How long have you wanted to do that?"

Harry smiled against the top of her head. "Do what?"

"Kiss me!"

'Well, if you insist." Harry bent his head and kissed her again. She laughed just before his lips touched hers and she threw her arms around his neck, pulling herself onto his lap.

When she broke the kiss she rested her head on his shoulder. "I liked that one even better."

"Yeah?"

"Mmm. We didn't have an audience."

"I didn't really plan on kissing you like that. I just looked into your eyes when you hugged me and I couldn't help myself. Your eyes, they, no. It will sound silly. You'll laugh." Harry shook his head, as if trying to rid himself of the thought.

"I won't. I promise."

"When I looked into your eyes, they, well… they kind of dared me to kiss you."

When Ginny didn't say anything after a few seconds, Harry chanced a look at her face. She was turning red. She soon lost her internal battle and burst into laughter.

"See? I shouldn't have told you! I knew it was stupid."

"No. It's okay. I think it's sweet," she said through her giggles. She turned to face him and straddled his thighs. She kissed him then rested her forehead against his. Her lips close to his, she whispered, "If I knew daring you to kiss me would work, I'd have dared you myself long ago."

"I wish you would have. I thought that you were over me and I'd missed my chance."

"Never," she whispered, joining their hands together and leaning against his chest.

"Do you remember the day Ron and I found you with Dean in that corridor?"

Ginny blushed and buried her face in his neck. "Unfortunately, I do. Vividly."

"That day, I wanted to jinx Dean into a jelly. _I_ wanted to be the one kissing you."

"That long ago?"

"Even earlier, but I didn't really know what it meant at the time."

Ginny raised her eyebrow. "What 'what' meant?"

Harry sighed. "On the first day of class, Slughorn had brewed some potions for us to identify. Hermione, of course knew them all." Ginny grinned at this. "One of them was Amortentia. Have you ever heard of it?"

"Vaguely. I did hear some of the girls talking about it. Romilda, I think, was going to try and get some."

Harry shuddered at the thought of that before continuing. "It's a love potion. According to Hermione, it smells differently for everyone. I smelled treacle tart, a woody broomsticky smell and something kind of flowery."

"Something kind of flowery?"

"You. When you came up to me at dinner that night, I caught a whiff of your perfume and recognized it from the potion. It just took me a while to figure out what it all meant. Then I couldn't do anything about it since you were with Dean. I spent a lot of time just watching you this year."

"Dean noticed. He complained about it to me."

"Sorry."

"S'okay."

Harry pulled her more tightly against him and leaned down for another kiss. "I have another confession. This one is kind of, well, it's... I hope you're not going to be angry about this."

"Considering I'm right where I've wanted to be since I was about five or six, I don't think I will be."

"The night you and Dean broke up, it… ummm, it wasn't him that helped you through the portrait hole. It was actually me."

Ginny looked at him and raised one of her eyebrows. As Harry flushed under her scrutiny, he said, "I had to leave to go to Hagrid's and no one was supposed to know. I was under my cloak and Hermione was supposed to open the portrait hole so I could leave. Everyone would have thought she was going to the library. But, Lavender saw her with Ron and they had that big row, so I just waited by the portrait hole until you and Dean came in. I had to get out fast and pushed between the two of you. So it wasn't him."

"You didn't feel bad about it either, did you?" she asked him, her eyes glinting.

Harry had the grace to look slightly embarrassed by her comment. She hugged him. "I really should thank you. Dean and I wouldn't have lasted much longer at that point anyway."

Harry leaned back against the tree and pulled Ginny against his chest. They stayed there together just looking over the lake and being together.

After a while, Ginny broke the silence. "We have to go back to the castle."

"We could just stay here forever."

"Nope." Ginny stood up and pulled on his arm. "Don't forget I'm a Weasley. You need to feed me."

"So now we can go brave the stares and whispers in the Great Hall."

"We could go to the kitchen and see if Dobby will feed us." Even as she said this, Ginny looked disappointed.

"No. The Great Hall. We have to show up there together sooner or later. Why not now? Besides, everyone in Gryffindor knows and it's hard keeping a secret around here." Harry stood up and kissed her again. "I could get used to that."

"So could I."

Ginny smiled up at him. He took her hand as they headed up the hill.


End file.
